Long, hot days of racing under the sun ☀️ Week 1 of the Vuelta is over, and while we rest (and cool down 🥶) we’re looking back at our favorite pics from the first 9 stages: efprocycling.com/culture/vuelta… 📸: Harry Talbot
"I want to be fighting for this Vuelta" - Richard Carapaz growing in strength and confidence in quest for 2nd Grand Tour victory
CyclingMonday, 26 August 2024 at 20:30
He might have started somewhat slowly at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, but Richard Carapaz is growing into the final Grand Tour of the year. With the first week done, the Ecuadorian is now up to 3rd overall, just 4:32 off the Red Jersey of Ben O'Connor.
“I understand that we have already had the worst days of heat. I hope to be able to improve, because it is one of my virtues, and to find better legs," assesses the EF Education-EasyPost leader and former Giro d'Italia winner in conversation with AS on the first rest day of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. "There are many stages that I like and I want to be fighting for this Vuelta.”
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Whilst he wasn't competing for the general classification at the Tour de France earlier this summer, Carapaz starred, winning both stage 17 and taking home the King of the Mountains jersey also. “After the falls, after everything I have had to go through this year, it is being a good season for me and I am enjoying it,” Carapaz reflects.
With EF Education-EasyPost having lost both Rui Costa and Rigoberto Uran from this Grand Tour following separate crashes however, much of the team's hopes of success rest on the shoulders of Carapaz. Although that brings with it extra pressures, the Ecuadorian is intent on making a success of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana for his team. "We are still fighting," he concludes determinedly. "There is still a lot of mountains to come."
With 9 stages down, Carapaz is as mentioned, currently sitting 3rd overall after his long range attack on Sunday's stage 9 saw him pull back two minutes and six seconds in the general classification. As the race enters terrain that suits him in the coming weeks, expect more attacking and aggressive riding from Carapaz in the stages to come.
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- I think this was because there were junior women in the race. If a race has junior women am pretty sure it has to be less than 45 minutes. I believe a rule is coming in for next season that will fine organisers that don't put on a junior women's race a fine equivalent to the prize money. So fingers crossed we should see more longer elite and junior women's races from next season.NorrisHippocampe18-11-2024
- Of course he CAN. Big salary in cycling is not when you win but when they talk about you (and your team / sponsors). For every news about Jonas, MVdP or Wout there are 10 times more(!) news about Pidcock (like everyday for last 2 months?). Since cycling is advertising sport not competitive sport (in terms of from money comes from) Pidcock is winner and GOAT - change my mind. ;-)averagecyclist18-11-2024
- Why do the women CXs keep getting short changed with the length of theor races? They could have easily done another lap to put them at 50 minutes which is their time limit. Yet another CX race where they fail to reach this when they had a chance to. Come on ... the math isn't that hard to figure out lap times and divide into 50 min!frieders318-11-2024
- All pro cyclists are massively underpaid! The amount of riding and physical exertion they put their bodies through is crazy compared to other sports. I can't think of any other sport where you are physically active at a very high level of power output for hours on end each day.Pogboom17-11-2024
- When I was working for Starkist/Heinz my manager quit. So the next week my group was put under another manager. During our first meeting he asked if there was anything we needed to tell him. I said that I would be out the following week on vacation. He said "I don't know if I can let you go on vacation". I replied, "You can't tell if I can go. You can only tell me if I can come back".Sweep17-11-2024
- :-)Sweep17-11-2024
- What a mess there :-)
DareDevil17-11-2024 - So he read the comments here probably :-)DareDevil17-11-2024
- Alpecin is a MVDP and sprinter's team. It is unlikely that he will get a chance there as wellabstractengineer17-11-2024
- There’s no crying in cyclocross…Crashjames17-11-2024